ST. LOUIS — Staff at the Des Peres Dierbergs carefully handle the day's flower delivery, putting each bundle in its basket. But managers say they could use an extra one, two, or 200 sets of hands.
It's the same trend across a lot of industries. Many industries are still struggling to find staff in an unusual job market.
Upstairs from the floral display, a job fair screened dozens of job seekers for the hundreds of open positions.
"Oh my gosh, we are so excited. I am so excited with how it turned out today, and we just started not that long ago," human resources director Erica Campbell said.
One of the people in line was Jamil Whitehead, a Missouri Western computer science major home for summer break.
"I'm really looking forward to doing something this summer instead of sitting around right at home and just kind of doing nothing," Whitehead said.
Experts said Whitehead represents a big part of the upcoming job candidate pool.
"We will start to see more people, particularly young people, looking for summer jobs," SLU professor Jerome Katz said.
The Robert H. Brockhaus Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at SLU’s Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, Katz said this is a great time to be looking for a job.
Katz said There are openings at all levels, and this a job-seeker's market. He expects many now-vaccinated young people will be looking for positions to make spending money as the events and entertainment resume.
"There is a lot of opportunity, but is the pay where you want it? It may not be. And that's going to be one of the ongoing battles," he said.
Like many employers, Dierbergs is offering incentives: $300 for new employees and recruitment bonuses for existing staff.
Whitehead said he had heard about the signing bonus, but he said it's not his main motivator. He's just looking for a normal, summer gig.
"It's pretty cool. It's sort of like things are going back to normal and how they used to be over a year ago," Whitehead said of the job fair and its turnout.
Gov. Mike Parson blamed extra federal unemployment benefits for the state's staffing shortage, saying the supplemental $300/week incentivized people to stay home.
But Missouri's April unemployment data clocks in at 4.1%, compared to 3.7% in March 2020 before the effects of the pandemic hit the labor force.
Instead, many former service industry workers blame the nature of that industry for its current unpopularity, with irregular hours, unreliable pay, and low appreciation.
The governor announced the state will end participation in all six federal pandemic-related unemployment programs effective Saturday, June 12.
Dierbergs continues their two-day hiring fair Thursday, May 20 from 11 AM- 6 PM at Dierbergs Bogey Hills Plaza, 2021 Zumbehl Road.